Mass Effect: Galactic Shuffle
by Doctor Corvus
Summary: New aliens have appeared and Commander Shepard as to deal with it


Chapter I: The Veskoid

For Kaidan Alenko, the day had started out terribly. First, their shakedown run suddenly evolved into something so much more deadly. Eden Prime gets attacked by geth, machines that hadn't been seen outside of the Perseus Veil for over 300 years. Then Jenkins… He was still so young… Damn the geth. Then that Spectre, Nihlus, is found dead, shot in the back. Then, the geth try to blow up Eden Prime and the Prothean artifact along with it. Kaidan didn't want to know what else could go wrong.

At least now, something was finally going right. The beacon was secured, and Eden Prime was saved. Lieutenant Alenko was saying something to Shepard, but he could tell that the Commander wasn't paying complete attention.

"Wow look at it real living Prothean technology!" Kaidan said like an excited school kid.

"It wasn't glowing like that before?" Said Ashley surprised that the damn thing is glowing now.

"Commander! What secrets do you think the Beacon holds?" Kaiden asks, the excitement could be plainly heard in his voice, the look alone made him look like a little kid in a candy shop.

"I don't know, but it better be worth it" The German N7 soldier said before being caught in the Beacons field

"Commander!" Ashley Williams yelled, trying to help Shepard.

"No! It's too dangerous!" Alenko yelled, holding Ashley back. The gunnery chief seemed to go limp as both watched on, helpless as Shepard was lifted in the air. The Prothean artifact suddenly glowed brighter and emitted a strange hum.

"Get down!" Kaidan yelled, turning away from the beacon as it exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. As suddenly as it had started, it was over, and the commander's body fell to the ground.

"Shepard!" Ashley cried out, quickly moving to the commander's side, checking the woman's vitals. Kaidan too moved forward, but he could feel something brewing in the air. Something he didn't like.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a cloud of energy exploded in the air, nearly knocking him to the ground. "Williams!" Kaidan called out, putting a hand to his eyes, shielding himself from the blowback.

"I'm okay! The Commander too!" Ashley called out as the storm died down as quickly as it had come. Kaidan looked around, hoping it wasn't the eye of the hurricane. Then the umpteenth weird thing in the day happened.

Kaidan saw that directly under the spot where the energy storm had erupted, A figure rose materialized from the darkness, rising to an five-foot silhouette, it was a Alien! They looked to be 19 years old teenager with pale green/blue skin and dark freckles across their cheeks, the white of their eyes were completely blue/dark red with their iris and pupils being sold black and slit like a cats, and their spiky glossy white/black red hued hair was slightly messy hair that was tied into a long braid with a black beads on the end of the braid with noticeable pale white scar that start from their hairline, to over their left eye and branched down in two scar tallies. They stood around 5'2 in height. They had on a large jet black hooded cloak on with a fur rim around their neck. They wore a black full body Kevlar reinforced armor-mesh battle/flight suit with a blue/red line on both sleeves that has black and blue/red steeled armor that cover majority of the arms, legs, and torso, but leaving the knees, elbows, and waist areas exposed. On his back was a slim backpack of some kind.

He swayed a bit before fell on to his back like a fallen domino.

Walking over slowly, Kaidan took out his shotgun, senses at the ready. Behind him, he could sense Ashley drawing her Assault Rifle. When he was close enough, Kaidan prodded the teen with his gun. It was completely limp, like a sack of dead meat.

"What is it?" Ashley called, still watching over Shepard's prone body.

Kneeling down, the lieutenant searched for vitals, hoping that the alien's anatomy was somewhat similar to humans. It had four fingers and looked mammalian after all.

"It's alive!" He called to Ashley, who stiffened and gripped her gun in response. She didn't trust aliens. "It's out cold, though!"

"Be careful, LT!" Ashley called out. "It could be hostile."

"Maybe, but we can't just leave it here."

Ashley was quiet. Even if she didn't like aliens, she wasn't cruel.

Just then, the Normandy could be heard in the distance, slowly approaching the area. "Commander, come in," Joker's voice crackled over the radio.

"Joker!" Alenko spoke calmly. "The commander's hurt I think. We've secured the artifact, though, and an… anomaly of sorts. We need a pickup."

"Are you saying that it's a SNAFU, lieutenant?" Joker replied sarcastically.

"We need evac quick, Joker! The commander could be hurt. Now isn't the time for your jokes." Alenko almost barked. He didn't like surprises, and there had been too many for his liking today.

IIIIIIII

Shepard was thoughtful as she looked at the alien on the sickbay bed. He look so human and odd at the same time. His hair was unnatural with its black and white red hue color scheme, fuzzy, and had black antennae that were now visible with out his hood covering them. He almost looks like a old stereotypical green alien. He (at least, Shepard assumed it was a he) was about 5'2" and strong, by the looks of it. He still looked young, a teenager even. He looked peaceful sleeping, but then again, so did most creatures at rest, with the exception of krogan perhaps.

The alien's equipment was laid out in the supply room in the back of the medbay. It was a strange collection. There had been a blade less sword handle, the smoking remains of what appeared to be high-tech armor, and a well-preserved belt with some gadgets and gizmos on it – weird gadgets and gizmos that seemed to operate on technology that she had never seen before.

According to Alenko, the alien had also appeared out of a 'blue energy storm' right around the same time that Prothean artifact had given her that vision. She had been out cold at the time, so when Captain Anderson had questioned her about the alien, she couldn't definitively offer anything of worth.

Alenko and Anderson were discussing the alien right now. Shepard, though, felt instinctively that the alien wasn't a hostile – a gut instinct, yes, but an instinct that had served her well in the past. Suddenly, the alien's eyes snapped open.

IIIIIIII

Khstine's first sensations bombarded him in a rush as his eyes snapped open. He saw gray and blue. It was dark. It was silent, but there was that telltale hum of machinery. Khstine was on a space vessel of sorts, but it definitely wasn't one of his own. All of his instincts coming into play, Khstine bolted up and looked around. There was somebody next to him, looking alarmed. Other than that, he was alone.

No weapons, no armor, no nothing. He was dressed in his flight suit. Who had taken the armor off? Had they taken his gadgets and weapons? Khstine pushed his thoughts aside quickly before deciding on a course of action. Survival first. Rolling off the bed, Khstine flipped sideways onto his feet, landing in a ready position.

"Who are you?!" He growled menacingly to the stranger, who looked like similar to his species but could definitely tell that she wasn't.

The alien looked bewildered, in alarm almost at Khstine speedy maneuver, before composing herself and beginning to speak.

"Myufhgnajmehgilsfghspehdkarkd. Wyuohesraehguo?" The alien said calmly, his hands also raised defensively, feet splayed apart.

What?

Khstine kept his face impassive, but mentally quirked his head. He only processed garbled mumbo jumbo through the static. Thinking quickly, Khstine realized that his omni-translator didn't recognize the alien's language. So he wasn't in his home galaxy or Amphiaraus Star System. Where was he? The wary alien quickly appraised the alien in front of him. It was clear that whoever she was (Khstine assumed that it was a she), she was a soldier, from the uniform to the stance to the face.

Backing up slowly, Khstine was surprised to hear a door slide open behind him. Glancing quickly behind him, Khstine bared his sharp teeth at the stranger before turning and leaping toward his sword, which he noticed resting on a table. Rolling into his landing, Khstine sprung up and grabbed his sword, whirling back towards the door where he saw the alien standing there, looking quite alarmed at his brandished weapon.

Shepard was surprised at the speed and agility the alien possessed. He had grabbed his sword, and by the way he was holding it, he knew how to use it in a fight. Shepard didn't want to try her own luck, especially without any armor or weapons of her own.

Shepard was also surprised that his translator didn't work properly. The alien was clearly intelligent. It wasn't a feral berserk, but neither was it a timid creature. He spoke a language that Shepard didn't understand at all.

The commander tried to negotiate again, hoping that the tone in her voice conveyed her meaning. "My name's Shepard, and I don't intend to harm you" She wan't sure how much the alien understood.

Khstine narrowed his eyes again as his omni-translator began to slowly work, trying to decipher more of the language.

"Me name Shepard. I tent arm you" The translator still had a ways to go, obviously.

Although Khstine thought he understood, he decided to try something simple. "Me. Khstine" He said, pointing at his chest, but keeping his wrench ready.

The alien suddenly recoiled, as if surprised to hear his name in her own language. "You, Khstine?" She asked somewhat cautiously, voice mixed with curiosity and wonder.

Khstine nodded, understanding the need for simplicity as their translators deciphered the new languages.

"Me, Come-dear Shepard," came the hesitant voice of the alien.

Khstine's hairless brow furrowed in concentration. Come-dear? "Shepard?" He asked, picking out what he thought could have been the alien's name. The alien nodded and smiled in confirmation. Khstine nodded in reply. Some things truly were universal it seemed.

"Copy of language? For translator… Shepard?" Khstine stated, hoping the alien understood. There was a brief pause as the alien tried to piece together Khstine's words, causing the Greenskin to hope that he wasn't dealing with an idiot.

"Translator language?" The alien finally repeated, as if in confirmation, to which Khstine nodded and slowly lowered his sword, raising his hand in a peaceful gesture. The alien seemed to understand Khstine's body language as he too seemed to relax. Neither truly let their guard down, a fact both recognized and respected.

"Come with me" The alien said, backing through the door slowly, making sure to keep an eye on the Khstine.

Khstine had no problems with that and followed Shepard, but kept sword all the same. Another door opened on the far side of the room, and Khstine realized that they were leaving some sort of medical bay. He had seen plenty of these on starships.

Outside, Khstine saw other aliens who looked like Shepard. As they tensed upon seeing him, he gripped his sword just a little harder, glaring back.

Shepard made a hand motion. "He's friendly, I think" The commander said to Ashley, gesturing for her to relax. Khstine, catching Shepard's tone and gesture, realized that he was perhaps exacerbating the tension. Reluctantly, he strapped his sword to his belt, realizing that he didn't have his utility belt on him.

Shepard thought about how quickly first contact had progressed with what was clearly a new species. Somehow, Khstine's species had achieved space flight without coming into any contact with the Citadel species yet. Interesting. He hoped he had understood Khstine correctly when he asked for translator software. But if this was a first contact situation, how would Khstine and his species know to have a translator in the first place? Humans sure as hell didn't have translators when they met the Turians.

Leading the Greenskin alien to Lieutenant Alenko's workstation, he raised his arm, letting Kaidan know that it was alright. "Kaidan, this is Khstine. Khstine, Kaiden"

Khstine raised his eyebrow. Wouldn't it have been easier to make introductions with an updated translator? The Greenskin nodded his head at Kaidan, tentatively raising his hand to grasp the alien's outstretched hand.

Kaidan was slightly surprised that Khstine understood the gesture of a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Khstine"

"You too" Khstine replied, glad that his omni-translator was able to handle simple phrases.

Shepard smiled to herself as she saw Kaidan and Khstine interacting. The Greenskin alien was significantly shorter than both Kaidan and himself, making the exchange mildly amusing. "Khstine here needs a software patch for his translator."

Kaidan looked surprised. "His translator doesn't work? We exchanged greetings just fine"

Shepard shook her head. "I don't get it either, but the faster we update his translator, the faster we can get our questions answered"

Kaidan nodded and pulled up his omni-tool, chuckling silently to himself. He figured Shepard went to him for the software update because of the commander's technical shortcomings. The Normandy's XO was famous among the crew for her ability to break any omni-tool, GUI interfaces which were actually designed to be unbreakable. No crew member had dared even use an omni-tool near her for a week afterwards.

In a few seconds, Kaidan had pulled the corresponding software and raised up his omni-tool.

Khstine stared at the orange tool, curious of the holographic interface. Realizing that Kaidan was going to make a wireless transfer using the holo-tool, Khstine tapped the user interface unit on his suit-chest

Kaidan looked confused when the data started to transfer. Where was Khstine's omni-tool? Wait, he didn't use an omni-tool? A few seconds later, Khstine's suit interface beeped, signifying the end of the transfer.

Tentatively, Khstine said, "Kaidan, Shepard, can you understand me? Is my translator working?"

Shepard grinned. "It works! I can understand you perfectly"

Kaidan too smiled. "That was amazing. What's that button you pressed on your suit? How did your translator manage basic phrases when you've clearly never heard our language before? And where's your omni-tool?"

"At ease, Alenko!" Shepard said jokingly. "I think maybe if we answer the basic questions first, then move on to the hard stuff, things will be a lot less confusing."

Kaidan sheepishly smiled and Khstine grinned in response. "I'm in agreement with Shepard. I can only handle so many questions at once" Khstine said, causing Kaidan to laugh at how overly eager he had been. Khstine was already feeling at ease around these Shepard and Kaidan characters.

"So for formal introductions, now that you can understand us. Officially, I'm Commander Shepard. This is Staff Lieutenant, Kaidan Alenko" Shepard said, gesturing to Kaidan.

Khstine smiled and nodded to both men. "Commander, Lieutenant." To which a smiling Kaidan casually saluted, "Pleasure"

"He's our combat-tech specialist" Shepard continued, "And the go to guy for your omni-tool patches"

"Yeah, about that" Khstine interrupted. "Is that holo-device on your wrist an omni-tool?"

Kaidan pulled out his omni-tool, the orange interface coming to life. "Yeah. It's kind of like my personal computer and hacking device all rolled into one. I use it to hack security and generate my tech mines"

Khstine blinked at that and noticed the flaw in such a tool. "Wait, so that one device can universally interact with any security interface? That's a pretty big security gap, don't you think?"

Kaidan and Shepard blinked. "Well, I'd never thought of it that way, actually…" Kaidan said, thoughtful. "But I noticed that you don't have one. You used your suit somehow. What type of tech are you using?"

"My suit has something call the NEB (Neural Electrical Brain) interface linked into the suit. It handles basic wireless interactions and stuff like my omni-translator. I think you may have asked about it earlier, but I wasn't sure 'cause my translator was still trying to work out your language"

"So you're saying your suit has it's own VI interface? That's amazing! The power consumption to add a VI interface onto a suit would be tremendous! But a VI wouldn't be intelligent enough to regulate power flow…"

Khstine shot an amused glance to Shepard, who just shrugged. Tech talk was way beyond her.

"You know, you'd like a couple of brothers of mine are big tech-heads like you, Kaidan" Khstine joked.

"Huh, what? Oh, sorry. Yeah, sometimes I just get to thinking. Where's the power source for this NEB?" Kaidan asked, more curious than embarrassed.

"It's all right in here" Khstine said, gesturing to the strange looking backpack on his back.

Kaidan stepped forward, leaning in to get a good look. "You have a power source for a VI that's that small? How?!"

Before Greenskin could reply, the green man suddenly sensed a presence behind him, and whirled around, his sword in his hand in a second, all hints of ease and relaxation gone from his small frame.

All three humans present were surprised at the change. Shepard even more so as he recognized a part of her own battle instinct in Khstine's sudden ferocity.

"Whoa there!" Shepard said, intervening, "It's alright, Khstine. This is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. She's a friend and in fact, if Kaidan's right, she's the one who carried you in here."

Khstine glanced around once more, before slowly putting his sword away. "Er… sorry about that, Chief. I guess I'm still a bit jumpy" Khstine said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Ashley was surprised first at how short Khstine was. Shepard and the LT towered over him, and she herself was a good half a head taller than him, and she was of average height for a human. Khstine didn't seem bothered by the height thing, though.

Ashley was surprised secondly at how personable and relaxed Khstine was. He was confident, but he wasn't arrogant either, at least, not annoyingly so. Returning Khstine's smile, Ashley offered her hand. "No problem, Khstine. I'm the exact same way sometimes."

Khstine shook Ashley's hand, thinking that if Shepard's species were anything like Kaidan or Ashley, things were going to be alright. "If you're a trigger-happy one-woman army, I think we're going to get along just fine."

Shepard nearly snorted as that was the exact impression she received of the gunnery chief on Eden Prime. Ashley only laughed. "You're alright, kid. You ever been military? You seem like you've seen some action"

"I guess you could say that. I was – I guess I'm still with the Galactic Enforcers at the moment" Khstine replied.

"What's your rank?" Ashley asked.

"Funny thing, that. The Enforcer I worked with actually field promoted me straight to Staff-Commander when we was ambushed by Cult of Styx"

"Cult of Styx?" Shepard asked, interested.

"Yeah, aliens who were working with some mad man named Sigma Dawn to take over the galaxy to start some kind of galactic war. I and a team stopped them, of course" Khstine said, indulging in a smug smile.

"Heh, you saved the galaxy?" Kaidan asked.

"Five, actually" Khstine states simply, "Wish I got a pay rise for it…"

"A kid like you? I highly doubt that," Ashley chuckled slightly.

"Kid?" Khstine exclaimed with an indignant half-smile, "Just because I'm short?! You don't even know how old I am!" Ashley looked taken aback for a second.

"And exactly how old are you?" Kaidan interjected diplomatically

"Um… 19" Khstine finally confessed.

"So you're still a short kid!" Ashley pointed out, to which everybody laughed, causing Khstine to chuckle.

"In Human years" Khstine adds, "I'm 163 = 19" The three humans hide their surprises, 'He's 163 and only 19 in human years?'

"But! I never said I wasn't!" Khstine protested, jokingly, not truly embarrassed or self-conscious of his height or age in the slightest, eliciting a few more laughs from the trio.

"So now we know your age. What else should we know about you, Khstine? Where are you from?" Shepard asked with interest.

"Well, I'm a Veskoid or a Veskoians, and I'm from Restroulia originally before my people migrated onto our world ship, in The Amphiaraus Star System–"

"Whoa! Wait a second!" Kaidan interrupted. "You're not kidding when you say you're from another galaxy, are you?" Shepard and Ashley both looked interested and shocked, respectively.

Khstine gave Kaidan an enquiring look, genuinely confused. "Yeah… You guys don't have intergalactic travel?"

Shepard and Kaidan shared a look. This was huge! Intergalactic travel? Without the mass relays, even interstellar travel would have been near impossible.

"Khstine, I think you're going to need to speak to the captain about this" Shepard finally said.

Connecting the dots, Khstine suddenly realized the reason for the shocked reactions. Technology in this galaxy was probably severely behind the galaxies he came from. Khstine suddenly thought back to how he arrived here. His ship was damaged during travel.

Everything suddenly slammed into Khstine like a wall. He had to look for his ship!

"My ship-!"

Kaidan and Ashley jumped in surprise when Khstine suddenly collapsed to the ground. Shepard quickly knelt down and scooped up Khstine. "Williams, find Dr. Chakwas and bring her to the medbay. Looks like something's happened to our Veskoid" Ever the natural leader, Shepard was already thinking ahead. "Kaidan, you better find Anderson and bring him to the medbay as well. I have a feeling that things are going to get very interesting, and he'll want to hear it"

(Break)

Khstine sighed as he saw the expectant faces of the five humans. He had just met the captain of the ship, Captain Anderson, and the ship's doctor, Dr. Chakwas. They seemed nice too. He wondered where to start telling them about himself.

"Ok. First, let me tell you guys about me" Nobody dared interrupt Khstine. They all wanted to hear the Veskoid story.

"In my universe" Khstine made air quotes, "There are three galaxies that I've explored with my team. They're called, the Amphiaraus Star System, the Alatheia Star System, and the Asteria Cloud. I was born in Amphiaraus Star System. I'm a Veskoid, by the way. A long time ago on a planet called Restroulia. Once was a garden world that was plunged into dismay due to magical atomic warfare. Nuclear fallout destroyed almost all of the lands save for underground lands and anti-radiation bubbled areas. The background story of Restroulia involves in which the nations tries to create a fusion power and mix it magic resulting in the whole country becoming hegemonic and having less reliance on petroleum. However, this is not achieved until 2077, shortly after an oil drilling conflict off the Pacific Coast pits the countries against one another. It ends with a nuclear exchange resulting in the post-apocalyptic world in takes place."

"Before the nuclear exchange took place, great underground Vaults were constructed across America along with large Anti-Radiation bubbles to protect major city's from the radiation, supposedly to protect the populace from the dangers of the two different radiation. Although only 122 were constructed, over 400,000 would be needed to protect the entire nation."

Khstine took a deep breath here, quelling the turbulent storm of emotions rising within him.

Khstine places a hologram to show the unfortunate side effects of the radiation poisoning "Unfortunately the two different radiations effected the people badly: Ghouls are former Veskoid's who have become horribly irradiated by the radioactive fallout covering the wasteland from the Resource War. Many ghouls are pre-War Veskoid's who survived the initial nuclear bombardment during the Great War. Becoming permanently irradiated, they were horribly disfigured and their lifespans were increased virtually indefinitely. In most cases, exposure to radiation in the post-War wastes degenerated their brains, causing them to lose their higher cognitive functions, turning them into mindless, radiation-resistant cannibals."

"The brain structure of a feral ghoul indicates that the regenerative ability of the neurological system that affords "normal" necrotic post-humans their longevity does not extend into the higher reasoning functions of the brain itself. This condition is referred to as "ferocious post-necrotic dystrophy," according to the ghoul physician Barrows. Despite the apparent lack of the higher reasoning they once had as humans, some are capable of semi-intelligible speech, as a security officers will occasionally growl out understandable phrases, indicating that their vocal chords and their brain's speech centers are still relatively intact."

"To combat the race dying a scientist by the name of Dr. Khromia had found a solution to our dying race problems. She was a expert if not master of genetic augmentation, genetic rewrite, and genetic modification" Khstine shivers a bit before continuing. "It took nearly two to three hundred years for the final operation to be completed and the Veskoid's were able to survive the two different radiations of the world. But they believed they didn't deserve their home and the other inhabitants of the planet were practically immune to the radiation of the planet. During the 300 years the Veskoid crafted a massive world ship to house the entire race. They actually changed the name of their race to Veskoid because they no longer looked…"

Khstine's form glitch and he took a human based appearance with a sharp toothed smile on his face.

"Human"

Ashley suddenly spoke up, unable to suppress her shock. "Y-your Human!?"

Khstine pressed a few buttons on the hologram to show the evolution of the humanity to Veskoid, "I myself is a third generation Veskoid, we're considered the most… stable of the four generations that have been born" Khstine, "The 1G (1st Generation) didn't have the NEB and had some troubles for a time. The 2G (2nd Generation) gained the NEB and the super organ we are used to. 3G (3th Generation), that's me, are known to be the most adaptable due to constant evolving gene chains, we can survive in the vacuums of space and withstand massive damage with ease. The 4G (4th Generation) are still in development and are nearly the same as us 3G's but with more cybernetic uses" The Veskoid form breaks and reverts back to his original form and points to the device on hit back.

"For the NEB or Neural Electrical Brain are fitted with a hemispherical multipurpose device called a NEB, which is surgically attached to the upper back at birth and holds the Veskoid/Veskoians's memory, knowledge, and countless tools and weapons, such as spider legs, a communication device, etc. In effect, the NEB is the individual Veskoid/Veskoians, and the body is simply something to carry the NEB around, friend AH-66 mostly helps with things like repairs"

"Your friend's a robot? A synthetic like the geth?"

Khstine glanced quizzically at Ashley. "I guess you could call robots synthetic life, but I've never really thought about them like that. AH-66 a robot" Khstine seemed to shrug, not understanding the root of Ashley's concern. "And what's a geth? I've been meaning to ask about that"

Ashley saw Khstine's genuine confusion and decided to bite her tongue. She would ask when Khstine was finished.

"Go on, Khstine" Shepard said, checking to make sure that Williams was going to be alright.

"Anyways, one of my friends then persuaded me to join him in stopping this guy named General Baltazar. He was a Monkey Zaunkrons, a anthro animal, who was using a weapon he called the Terror Injector to take chunks out of planets and assimilate them into a new planet he was constructing. He was doing this because he promised to create a weapon for a warlord and was running out of time. Unfortunately, this would cause the planets he used to lose mass and be pulled into their star's gravitational pull"

Shepard and Anderson in particular looked alarmed that in Khstine's universe, there was a weapon capable of destroying whole planets, but remained silent.

"Then, the team and I traveled to Alatheia Star System and landed on Zunzeiliv, a Arctic World. There, we helped the tech giant Corp, Anguis Corporation, deal with a mutation outbreak problem they had with an experiment they had. It turned out that a "hero" I knew from the Asteria Cloud, Captain Wales, thought that I was taking away his fame or something, and tried to use the mutants against me.

"Long story short, the Team and I won again, and saved Zunzeiliv. Then we went back to the Asteria Cloud, where we learned that another villain, Prime Exterminator Omega Rex, was trying to turn the galaxy into robots using a weapon he called the Cyber-Shifter. Apparently, he hated organics and called them squishies or meatbags. Weird" Khstine seemed to lose himself in thoughts before coming back to reality.

"Anyways, we defeated Omega Rex and his Empire. After that the team and I, along with a tech geek named Otacon, were kidnapped and forced to compete in a show called The Royal Super-Ethical Reality Climax, a cheap knockoff of Professor Genki's Super-Ethical Reality Climax, which kidnapped galactic heroes & soldiers and put us in some pretty brutal arena combat situations.

"I survived and one of my squad mates Gellannelle, a Shumrian, and I beat Chairman O'Conner, the owner of the show. We managed to save everybody on the station and put O'Conner out of business"

"Finally, after that, Gellannelle and I were able to relax when we found the rest of our team, but that was when we were attacked in the Amphiaraus Star System. Gellannelle and I escaped to the Shumrian home planet, Kha'Zann, where I found out about the what exactly happened to my planet and what had had caused the war. It was then that I realized that Dr. Khromia has orchestrated the hole things!"

"Gellannelle and I met up with a Cevantian named Janice and her two war bots. Together, we found a device called The Purifier, a device that could restore destroyed planets, and battled some pirates and Dr. Khromia and her army. In the final battle against Dr. Khromia, The Purifier was destroyed"

Khstine purposely left out the part where he had the chance to fix his destroyed home planet. That wound was still fresh. Healing, but fresh.

"After the battle, Gellannelle and I were with Janice at her space station. There, these creatures called the Cyberjin robo-napped my squad mate Techno. The team and I chased after them, and I think I was teleported here to your universe somehow. While we were fighting Dr. Khromia, Techno kept seeing the Cyberjin, and called them inter-dimensional beings who travel through time and space. I'm guessing that when I chased after them, I could have traveled through one of their inter-galactic portals, or maybe even… an inter-dimensional portal?"

It took a while for the humans to process what Khstine had meant, but it suddenly struck them one by one. If Khstine came here via the Cyberjin, he had no equipment to take him back to his universe. If so, he was stuck here in the Milky Way. In a sense, he may have truly become the First, Last, and only Veskoid in this universe.

For Khstine's sake, they all wished that Khstine would be able to find a way home.

In fact, Khstine's story about his home had been so fantastical, that Shepard, Kaidan, Ashley, Dr. Chakwas, and Anderson could not properly think of any good comment. There were simply too many things to wrap their minds around. They needed time to think.

IIIIIII

"What do you think, Shepard?" Captain Anderson asked as soon as the doors of the medbay closed behind the group of five.

Shepard paused a moment, deep in thought. "I don't think he's lying, sir, if that's what you mean. Nobody would be able to come up with a story like that, even if they rehearse it over and over again"

Everybody nodded in affirmation. Khstine'S voice also rang with a sincerity that they could all recognize.

"I am inclined to agree with you," Anderson finally said, "But his story… I'm going to need some time to digest it all. I mean, other dimensions?" The Captain seemed to shrug almost. "Dismissed all. Shepard, meet me in my quarters after dropping out of FTL. We need to talk about your report"

Each crew member dispersed slowly, much on their minds. Shepard found a seat at the mess table, shaking her head, mind reeling with the new information that Khstine had just shared with them. He was originally human in his galaxy before being manipulated by someone smarter to change, and it was possible that he could be an inter-dimensional traveller. He was looking for his friends/teammates, who had been taken by higher-dimensional beings called the Cyberjin.

The Cyberjin were still something that Khstine himself didn't quite understand. And Khstine's companion was a (possibly) robot. An AI! And the Veskoid had stated it so casually as if it were entirely normal. He had even spoken of Techno and his helper as if the robots were a living person. Robots and AI's were clearly viewed differently in Khstine's universe. Shepard didn't know what to think about that.

On top of that, Khstine's universe had technology that was centuries, if not millennia ahead of anything being developed now. They had fighters capable of intergalactic travel, and weapons that were capable of opening portals to other dimensions, capable of destroying planets, and capable of converting living biology to mechanical technology. Some of Khstine's descriptions sounded so fanciful and utterly impossible that Shepard couldn't help but think that the Veskoid's universe was a very messed up place.

Khstine was only 19 (163). But by his accounts, he hadn't been lying when he said he saved three galaxies. At 19! He was still a kid! How could one galaxy, or three, by Khstine's account, have so many villainous characters willing to destroy so much? How could one teenager be the only thing stopping galactic annihilation? Where were the governments? Where were the militaries? Where was the order? Khstine's universe sounded utterly barbaric. But right now, Shepard was more concerned about how she would include Khstine into his report.

How would he even begin to tell the council about this? If they found out about the new technology, they'd have Khstine's brain dissected for any useful scrap of information. More likely, every species in the galaxy would be vying for Khstine's technology, although the Veskoid didn't seem like the type who needed protecting.

Suddenly, the ship-wide intercom buzzed, Joker's voice ringing out. "Hang onto your hats, ya'll. Exiting Relay Transit in 10 minutes. Estimated ETA at the Citadel is 20 minutes."

The intercom died with a buzz and Shepard sighed. There would be time only for a quick debrief. As cliche as it sounded, Khstine belonged in a galaxy far far away. In good conscience, Shepard couldn't allow Khstine to be exploited. Activating his comm unit, Shepard pulled herself up and went over to Anderson's quarters. "Captain. It's Shepard. Permission to enter?"

IIIIIIII

Khstine didn't really like it, as he really didn't like being dishonest, but he couldn't argue with Shepard's logic. No matter how nice any government might be, (And Shepard's description about this Council wasn't flattering at all) nobody would pass up the opportunity to exploit the Veskoid as a cache of advanced tech.

Khstine lightly touched his utility belt and the nearly hidden quick-select interface. He had almost told them about his weapons and the nanotechnology behind it. Now would probably not be the best time to talk about weapons like the Phase Shifter, though.

Activating his holo-guise, Khstine's rook his human form once again dressed smartly in his Veskoid attire. Still short, though. "What do you guys think?"

Kaidan and Ashley, who were looking on, fidgeted uncomfortably. It was disconcerting to see the truth of Khstine's story in the technology he was using. It wasn't very pleasant to think that there were other galaxies out there with the capabilities of taking over their own.

Dr. Chakwas observed the holo-guise critically. "Why don't you walk for us, Khstine"

Khstine complied, but lurched at his first step unexpectedly. "Whoa! I forgot the limp from the disguise is still programmed in the holo-guise" Turning of the gadget, Khstine pulled out his nano-arm tool and began crossing some wires. After a few seconds he had finished completely reprogramming his holo-guise.

"There!" The disguise activated, Khstine looked expectantly at Chakwas, Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley. "What do you think?" The disguised Veskoid asked, walking around at a brisk pace.

"Looks good" Shepard commented. "Perfect, even. I can't even tell that you're not a human. It's scary to think about what an assassin could do with this technology."

"Don't worry," Khstine said, turning off the disguise momentarily. "After I used the holo-guises to infiltrate some bases, security companies wised up and started making holo-guise detection scanners. It only worked for me because the pirates I fooled hadn't started using the scanners yet"

"Yes," Shepard replied, "But we don't have any technology that would be able to keep up with your holo-guise."

"It's a good thing I'm on your side, then" Khstine said with a grin, activating his gadget. The Veskoid couldn't help but notice, though, the involuntary shudder that seemed to grip Ashley. Guess she still didn't really trust him.

The Veskoid sighed as he followed Shepard toward the cockpit, aside Kaidan and Ashley. Gaining their trust was going to be very important. One concern loomed foremost in Khstine's mind though, and that was how he would get back home. To find his friends. 'I'm coming for you guys. Don't worry. I'm coming' This was going to be one interesting adventure he wouldn't forget.


End file.
